Johnson’s post office opened in 1887, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #81 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Johnson was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Its Register listings are the Johnson House and Mill, the Jackson House and the Johnson Switch Building. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1970.
Founding year: the first Johnson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1961.
History grade
What drives Johnson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Johnson is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #81 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Johnson’s overall grade.
Arkansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Arkansas town has 20.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Johnson’s 21.9 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1961.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Johnson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Johnson yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Johnson is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Ozark Mountains and is surrounded by valleys and natural springs. Early settlers took advantage of these natural features and formed an economy based on mining lime, the Johnson Mill and trout. Although a post office was opened in the community in 1887, Johnson did not incorporate until it required the development of a city government to provide utility services in 1961. Located between Fayetteville and Springdale in the heart of the rapidly growing Northwest Arkansas metropolitan statistical area, Johnson has been experiencing a population and building boom in recent years. As of the 2020 censu…
Its first post office opened in 1887. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,354 to 3,609 (+8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Johnson, 1887 to 1975
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Johnson post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1961.
How does Johnson rank for history?
Johnson is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #81 of 123 in Arkansas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Johnson?
Three places: the Johnson House and Mill (listed 1976), the Jackson House (1982) and the Johnson Switch Building (1999).
How old are the homes in Johnson?
0.0% of Johnson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1999.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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